Foer is brilliant. This book is brilliant. I would never have believed that: 1) someone could so quickly weave such a huge catastophic event into a novel without judgement, schmaltz, brutality, or sentimentality or 2) another book could present autism/OCD spectrum disorders as well as (perhaps better than)The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

Read this for a workshop on teaching reading comprehension. Hated it at first, found it self-indulgent and silly. It grew on me a bit in some areas, particularly when we discussed symbolism in it. But I’m sorry, I just didn’t care and couldn’t care about the main characters. It would have made its points about reality, religion, and self-determination better if it hadn’t distracted me with idiotic, shallow, flat main characters…although I suppose that was symbolic in itself.

Just too strange, I guess.

I’ve actually been sick this week and it’s been perfect. It’s interesting, but not so interesting that I can’t use it as a sleep aid.

I generally prefer more compelling reading, but the last thing I need this week is to be kept awake by a really good book.